


Essential Maintenance

by northernexposure



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 03:41:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30015603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/northernexposure/pseuds/northernexposure
Summary: There's a party happening on the holodeck, but the Captain isn't there.
Relationships: Chakotay/Kathryn Janeway
Comments: 61
Kudos: 113





	Essential Maintenance

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to write some fluff! This could be read as one of my 'Ayala' series - in which case it would probably come between 'Things Fall Apart' and 'Onwards' - but it's a standalone, really. 
> 
> Thanks to MissyHissy3 as always, for listening to my nerdy blathering.

The party was already in full swing by the time Chakotay arrived. He stepped into holodeck two and found himself treading on soft white sand, a fresh salt breeze drifting from a pure blue ocean to reach him through the knots of crewmembers that had assembled to celebrate Mike Ayala’s birthday. The air was full of laughter, conversation and music. It brought a smile to the first officer’s face to see the crew so relaxed. They had so little time for R&R, especially as a group. Each and every one of them deserved to enjoy times like these as much as possible.

“Chakotay!” Ayala called, spying him from where he stood a little way away across the beach and waving him over. “For a while there I thought you weren’t going to show.”

“What, and miss the chance to point out you’re another year older?” Chakotay said, accepting the drink his old friend offered. “Not a chance.”

Ayala grinned at the jibe. “Hey, every birthday means another year I’ve survived out here,” he pointed out, good-naturedly. “I’m happy to take that for as long as I can.”

Chakotay acknowledged the point as he surveyed the party. There was one face he couldn’t see anywhere.

“She’s not here,” Ayala told him.

“Who?”

“The person you’re looking for.”

“What makes you think I’m looking for anyone?”

Ayala briefly cast his eyes up to the make-believe blue sky. “She’s on deck nine. Since she’s trying to fix a power interruption in the relay couplings, I’m guessing she’s currently got her fingers in the guts of the junction box in Jeffries tube fifteen.”

Chakotay frowned. “B’Elanna?”

“No, Chakotay, not B’Elanna. The Captain. That’s who you’re looking for, right?”

“I wasn’t – wait, what? If there’s an engineering problem, why is the Captain the one working on it? She’s not even supposed to be on duty.”

“She told B’Elanna she didn’t want any of the crew assigned.” Ayala raised a hand and gestured to the crowded holodeck. “My guess is she didn’t want any of us to miss the party. That’s why she’s doing it herself.”

Chakotay took a mouthful of his drink, processing this information. He felt Ayala watching him but didn’t meet his friend’s eye.

“I’d go get her, if I were you.” Ayala said.

“You’re not me, Ayala.”

Ayala snorted. “True enough. If I were, I wouldn’t need telling.”

“All right, that’s enough.” Chakotay said, glancing at Ayala’s glass. “Is that real alcohol?”

“Nope,” Ayala said. “Just the wisdom of age, my friend. Go get her.”

“That sounded a lot like an order, Lieutenant.”

Ayala shrugged. “Call it your birthday gift to me.” The look he gave Chakotay was suddenly serious. “Go _get_ her. We both know you won’t relax until she’s here.”

Chakotay downed the rest of his drink and twirled the glass in his fingers for a moment. Then he nodded once, set it down, and turned for the exit.

>*<

He could hear sounds of industry as he ducked through the access panel into Jeffries tube 15. Chakotay looked up the shaft above his head to see a dark shape that denoted Janeway on the rungs about twenty feet above him.

“Captain?” he called.

“Chakotay?” her voice floated down the ladder, echoing slightly. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be at the party.”

He put his hands on his hips. “I could say exactly the same to you. Captain, this is not your job.”

“I didn’t want to hold up the fun,” she called. “Go back to the holodeck, I’m fine. I’m almost done.”

“If you’re almost done, then call someone else and have them finish it,” he said, “and get to the party yourself.”

There was a pause, punctuated by the sound of electronic beeping, a faint curse and then a clatter. Something fell down the Jeffries tube. Chakotay stepped back as a sonic wrench narrowly missed his nose and clattered to the deck. He bent to pick it up and heard Janeway making her way down the ladder to retrieve it.

“Really,” she said, as she descended. “I’m happy to do this if it means none of the crew has to miss out.”

“But what about you? You being here means _you’re_ the one missing out.”

It wasn’t until her feet appeared in better view that he realised she wasn’t in uniform. Janeway had conspired to climb the treacherous rungs of the Jeffries tube shaft in black heels. He was still taking this in as she jumped to the floor. Then he had to process the rest of her outfit. She was dressed in a black one-piece jumpsuit that looked as if it might have been made of silk. The pants were loose at the leg but snug at the hips. The top had capped sleeves and crossed over into a v that fastened at the cinched waist. A single gem glittered amid the freckles at her throat. She’d done something with her make-up too. Her lips were rosier, her cheekbones more defined.

“Really, Chakotay, I’m fine, and-” she stopped mid-sentence, casting a glance over him with a surprised look on her face.

“What?” he asked, looking down at himself. For his own part he’d chosen a pair of black pants and a plain white shirt that he had left open at the neck.

“Nothing,” she said, and if he didn’t know her better he could have sworn that Kathryn Janeway was a little embarrassed. “I just can’t remember the last time I saw you out of uniform.”

“Likewise, Captain,” he said, with a smile.

She looked down at herself briefly. “Well,” she said, “I’ve never been what you’d call a clothes horse, but there are times that I almost can’t remember where the uniform ends and I begin. Tonight I – just wanted a change, I suppose.”

“And I whole-heartedly support that decision, Kathryn,” he said, in a voice that was perhaps just a little softer than he’d intended. “Especially since it means you clearly do intend to join the party.”

“Absolutely. I’ll be there just as soon as I’ve finished replacing this coupling.”

She reached for the wrench but Chakotay moved his hand just enough that her fingers didn’t reach it. “Not in those heels, you won’t,” he said. “I’m amazed you haven’t broken your neck already.”

She narrowed her eyes at him and reached for the wrench again, but once again he moved his hand out of reach. “Believe me, Chakotay, climbing a Jeffries tube ladder is one of the simpler manoeuvres I can make while wearing four-inch heels.”

He grinned. “Is that so?”

“Yes-” she reached for the wrench again. He moved his hand again. She huffed an impatient sigh. “Fine! I’ll take them off, then.”

“No,” he said. “Don’t.”

Her gaze flashed to his, eyes widening a little.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” he said, covering. “ _I’ll_ finish up here, _you’ll_ go to the party.”

Kathryn put her hands on her hips. It wasn’t an uncommon pose, but usually she’d be wearing her uniform. Chakotay tried not to let his gaze stray from the glare she was half-heartedly levelling his way.

“No,” she said. “ _You_ go back to the party, _I’ll_ finish what I’ve started here.”

He shook his head. “No deal. You’re off duty.”

“So are you!”

“Well,” he said, wiggling the wrench. “It appears I’m the one with the tools, so…”

She reached for it again. He moved it.

“Give it to me.”

“No.”

“Chakotay!”

She stepped towards him to better reach it, but he stepped back too, lifting his hand higher. “No,” he said, laughing at her now. “You’re not having it, Kathryn. Go to the party.”

“Chakotay, I swear-” she came at him and he backed away. She kept trying to grab the wrench, laughing too now, but he kept it out of her reach until he hit the wall of the tube, still holding it above his head. “You’re going to find yourself in the brig if you’re not careful,” she warned. “Give me the damn wrench!”

“No.”

He had nowhere to go but he kept his arm above his head. Kathryn put one hand on his chest, her fingertips slipping into the open v at his neck, and stood on tiptoe, trying to grasp his hand. Her face was very close to his but she wasn’t looking at him. She was concentrating on the wrench in his hand, still laughing, her cheeks a little flushed, her lips a little parted, her hips against his. Suddenly Chakotay realised that this had tipped over from mischievousness into something else, and she didn’t know, she couldn’t possibly know, quite how much he wanted to kiss her right then.

She must have felt something change in him, because Kathryn’s gaze suddenly flicked to his. For a second they were both utterly still. Then she looked at his mouth, and before Chakotay really knew what he was doing he had leaned forward and caught her lips with his. He felt a sensation pass through Kathryn’s body – a shiver, perhaps – and she released from the stretch, softening against him. He dropped the wrench and wrapped both arms around her instead, holding her closer against him before turning them around and pushing her gently up against the wall. One kiss melted into another and then into another and then another, and Chakotay thought that the way she fitted against him could easily get him drunker than any liquor in any galaxy.

When it ended she kept her eyes shut for a moment before opening them to look at him.

“What was that?” she asked, her voice barely there.

He smiled. “A long time coming?”

She sighed, shifting against him but not pushing him away. “It wasn’t… wise.”

“Probably not. But it felt…” he almost said ‘right’, but shied away from it, for her sake. “ _Extremely_ good.”

She shut her eyes again. “Chakotay...”

He could feel her through the thin silk of her outfit, warm, alive, as close to him as she had ever been. He wondered what it would be to wake up beside her in the morning, and watched her face until she opened her eyes again.

“We’ve been stuck on this ship together for four years,” he said, quietly, when she did. “And you’re still the first person I look for every time I walk into a room.”

She smiled at that, one of her best, the sort that made it seem as if the sun had risen in the dead of night. “That’s because I’m your Captain.”

“No,” he said, simply. “It’s not.”

Her gaze dropped to his lips again, but the smile faded into something more serious.

He leaned in again. “It’s all right,” he whispered, as they kissed. “We’re all right.”

They stayed there, just like that, for a while.

>*<

By the time they got back to holodeck two, the artificial sun was setting, the music had been turned up and the dancing had started. Kathryn gave a smile as she left him at the door, moving to mingle with the crew. Chakotay tried not to watch her go.

“There you are,” said Ayala, appearing beside him with two glasses, one of which he passed to Chakotay. “Took your time.”

He shrugged a little as he sipped his drink. “Trickier task than expected. One of the manifolds had snagged itself in a feedback loop, which meant-

Ayala held up a hand. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Do what?”

Ayala gave him a look. They were quiet for a while. Further down the beach, Kathryn was talking to B’Elanna. As they watched she suddenly raised both hands in an exasperated gesture and then stepped out of her shoes and bent to pick them up, her bare toes sinking in the white sand. The two women laughed as Janeway shook her head, and then she glanced over at Chakotay. Their gazes held, just for a moment, before she turned away again, still smiling.

“You know what I’ve noticed?” Ayala said, still watching the Captain as she moved around the crew.

Chakotay sipped more of his drink, bracing himself to deflect whatever his friend was about to say. “What?”

Ayala opened his mouth as he turned to look at Chakotay, but stopped before he said a word. He shut his mouth, shaking his head. “Nothing, Cap. Nothing at all.”

Chakotay smiled. Then he held up his glass in a toast. “Happy birthday, Mike.”

[END]

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone's wondering about KJ's jumpsuit, she probably got it from Nancy Mac.


End file.
